Carnegie Institution for Science

Andrew Carnegie founded the Carnegie Institution of Washington in 1902 as an organization for scientific discovery. His intention was for the institution to be home to exceptional individuals—men and women with imagination and extraordinary dedication capable of working at the cutting edge of their fields. more »

Upcoming Events

From the Big Bang to Broadway: How Things Evolve
03/18/2010 - 6:45pm
From Earth to Stars...and Planetary Extremes
04/29/2010 - 6:45pm

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Big Bang 2.0 in Switzerland

The Embassy of Switzerland invites you to a discussion to be held at the Carnegie Institution for Science regarding the world's largest scientific experiment: the so-called Large Hadron Collider at CERN that could revolutionize science.
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Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Climate Change White Paper

Global Ecology director Chris Field, with CEO of PG&E Peter Darbee, wrote a white paper on climate change for policymakers and business leaders.
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Thursday, February 25, 2010

Carnegie is an official partner in the First USA Science & Engineering Festival

The festival will take place over two weeks in October in Washington, D.C., with satellite events all around the country. See here for more information.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Caldeira, Fei, and Shirey Elected AGU Fellows

Carnegie scientists Kenneth Caldeira of the Department of Global Ecology, Yingwei Fei of the Geophysical Laboratory, and Steven Shirey of the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism have been elected 2010 Fellows of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). Election to Fellowship each year honors scientists who “have attained acknowledged eminence in the Earth and space sciences.”

Monday, February 1, 2010

Secretary Chu Appoints Richard Meserve to Commission on Nuclear Future

The Department of Energy announced Friday that Secretary of Energy Steven Chu has formed a Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future as part of President Obama’s efforts to restart America’s nuclear industry. The 15 member commission includes Carnegie president Richard A. Meserve. The body is chartered to review policies to manage nuclear waste in light of the administration’s decision not to proceed with the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository program.

Map showing flow of "outsourced" emissions

Monday, March 8, 2010

Carbon Emissions ‘Outsourced’ to Developing Countries

A new study by Carnegie scientists finds that over a third of carbon dioxide emissions associated with consumption of goods and services in many developed countries are actually emitted outside their borders. The study finds that, per person, about 2.5 tons of carbon dioxide are consumed in the U.S. but produced somewhere else. For Europeans, the figure can exceed four tons per person. Most of these emissions are outsourced to developing countries, especially China.

Read the coverage in Time magazine

Listen to the story on NPR

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Big Bang 2.0 in Switzerland

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Old Star is “Missing Link” in Galactic Evolution

A newly discovered star outside the Milky Way has yielded important clues about the evolution of our galaxy. Located in the dwarf galaxy Sculptor some 280,000 light-years away, the star has a chemical make-up similar to the Milky Way’s oldest stars, supporting theories that our galaxy grew by absorbing dwarf galaxies and other galactic building blocks.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Merging Galaxies Create a Binary Quasar

Astronomers have found the first clear evidence of a binary quasar within a pair of actively merging galaxies. Binary quasars, like other quasars, are thought to be the product of galaxy mergers. Until now, however, binary quasars have not been seen in galaxies that are unambiguously in the act of merging. But images of a new binary quasar from the Carnegie Institution’s Magellan telescope in Chile show two distinct galaxies with “tails” produced by tidal forces from their mutual gravitational attraction. Watch movie

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